Talking and Writing about Psychosocial Support in Emergencies

The words we use when we talk about psychosocial support matters. It makes a difference when a person is portrayed as a passive victim suffering from post-traumatic stress disorders, when really she is a survivor who is experiencing common emotional reactions to a highly stressful and dangerous situation. With this guidance note, the IFRC Reference Centre for Psychosocial Support hopes to equip emergency responders, communications and reporting delegates and journalists with some background knowledge for writing and talking about psychosocial support – both in the media and in internal documents.